Northweast news in brief

SEATTLE (AP) — Dangerous conditions Monday prevented rescuers from searching for a hiker who was caught in an avalanche over the weekend in the Cascade Mountains east of Seattle.

The hiker’s wife, Marilynn Hungate, identified him to KING-TV as Mitch Hungate, 61, a dentist and seasoned athlete.

He was with two other companions Saturday afternoon when an avalanche swept them more than 1,200 feet down Granite Mountain, a 5,600-foot peak about 45 miles east of Seattle. The two friends emerged from the snow and called for help. They tried but weren’t able to find Hungate.

“The longer the time goes on, the less chance of survival,” said Sgt. Cindi West with the King County Sheriff’s Office.

Packy marks 51st birthday

PORTLAND (AP) — The Oregon Zoo celebrated Packy’s 51st birthday Sunday with a 40-pound “cake” made of apples, carrots and celery for what’s believed to be the oldest male Asian elephant in North America.

Packy was born in Portland in 1962.

KOIN reports demonstrators outside the zoo said curators should retire Packy to a sanctuary where he can live out the rest of his life.

Zoo officials say they are working on a much larger enclosure for Packy and the zoo’s other elephants.

Suspect arrested after intruder shooting

ENUMCLAW, Wash. (AP) — The King County

sheriff’s office says a suspect who fled from a fatal intruder shooting at an Enumclaw home has been arrested.

The sheriff’s office tweeted the suspect was arrested early Tuesday, just after midnight. And a stolen SUV has been recovered.

In the incident Monday a man who returned home and found two intruders shot and killed one with a shotgun. The homeowner also fired at the second suspect as he fled in the stolen SUV, shooting out a window.

Man shot in hunting accident

BORING (AP) — The Clackamas County sheriff’s office says a man was shot and killed in a hunting accident near Boring.

Deputies were called Saturday and found the victim about 100 feet down a steep ravine.

They said he died before he could be loaded into a LifeFlight helicopter.

Deputies say everyone involved in the shooting is cooperating with investigators.

Wash. crime lab chief implicated

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — The Washington State Patrol is investigating allegations that the former manager of the State Crime Lab in Cheney mishandled case files and claimed to have completed lab work that was not actually done.

The State Patrol said Tuesday the manager resigned during the investigation. The State Patrol says at least five cases were mishandled. But the agency says there is no evidence that led to any wrongful convictions.

The investigation does not implicate any other lab employees in similar misconduct.

Licencing agency issues CIA cards

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — A Washington Department of Licensing program that supplied fake licenses for undercover officers issued the most fake IDs to the Central Intelligence Agency and Defense Department, the Kitsap Sun reported. In response to a public records request, the department last month showed the Northwest News Network a list of agencies issued confidential licenses since 2007. The CIA topped the list with 288, followed by the Defense Department with 198, then followed mostly by police agencies in the state, such as the Kitsap County sheriff’s office and Bremerton Police Department.